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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Five Bible Passages on Backsliding

1. Revelation 2:5
Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works
you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand
from its place, unless you repent.

This passage in Revelation
most certainly applies to someone who has already fallen away. It says
remember where you used to be! Remember how good it was to be close to
God. This quote speaks to those who have already fallen into defeat and
disgrace. It calls the individual to come back to the works they used to
do. If we end up in this place we ought to look back to the person that
was good, the one we used to be. This can motivate us to start back
down the good path. We're also told to repent here. If we fall from
grace, we must repent! Go to God and ask for forgiveness. I know that in
the past when I've had trouble with my faith I would pray to God and
say, "Please Lord, give me the desire! Make me want to want your kingdom
and your path." He answered. God gives out grace generously.

2. 1 Timothy 1:19 Holding faith and a good conscience. By rejecting this, some have made shipwreck of their faith

In
the book of Timothy, a personal hero of mine, we find this passage. We
ought to hold our faith close, and work towards a good conscience. And a
clean conscience! My roommate refers to it as being "on fire for the
Lord!" It's something we can reach by steadfastly pursuing the faith by
attending church, groups, bible studies, and by reading the word. It's
not as hard as some people think. It often will blossom into something
we love if we simply force ourselves to do it for a few months. Those
who reject these basic precepts and head off in their own ways, often
end up harming their faith. This is the essence of backsliding.

3. 2 Peter 2:21
For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of
righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy
commandment delivered to them.

This passage in Peter goes as far
to say that it would have been better if we had never known
righteousness than to turn away! This way at least we would not be
directly disobeying God. Because once we know the truth and love the
truth, how dark is it for us to fall away? How bad is it for us to
disobey our maker? We are sinners, and we are forgiven through Christ
but this does not mean we should sin freely.

4. Luke 9:62 Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God."

What is Jesus trying to tell us in Luke 9:62? Jesus often spoken in
metaphors to explain things to his disciples. In fact he most often
spoke in metaphors. In biblical times going to the plow was often
related to undertaking business. Jesus is saying we must put our whole
heart into these endeavors. We should not look back at the temptations
of the world and wish we still had these things. There is no room for
half measures in the spiritual journey. In step groups they often say
"half measures availed us nothing" and this will be true for our
spiritual journeys as well. God does not want half of us, or two thirds
of us, he wants it all! Early in my faith I often saw my life like a car
engine. I had various parts that I worked on, morality, truth, justice,
philosophy, and spirituality. When I came to God, I considered him to
be like one of the pistons in the engine. This caused me to slip away!
God could not be just one of the pistons in the overall engine that was
me. He had to be the entire engine itself! And that's what he is now to
me. And the pistons are now things like truth, politics, justice, and
philosophy. But God must be the center. And let me tell you friends the
engine runs much better with him in command and not me.

5. Hebrews 10:26-29
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of
the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful
expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the
adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without
mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse
punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has spurned
the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he
was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

This
passage in Hebrews is a great reminder. It's a powerful verse and kind
of scary because we're told that yes Jesus died for our sins but if we
ignore the law of Moses, which is the ten commandments, the we will not
have eternal life. In fact we are told this will make God quite angry!
We are told that if we go on sinning deliberately after accepting
Christ, that there is no longer any sacrifice that can save us. It tells
us that even Christ's sacrifice will not save us! Let's not get crazy
with this though, it's very important that we notice the operative word
in this passage "deliberately." It doesn't say "If we go on sinning
after accepting Christ" then we're doomed. No! We are all sinners
friends, and yes sins will happen everyday in our lives. We are still
saved through Christ. The important thing to understand here is that if
we continue to deliberately sin, as in "well Jesus saved me so I can do
whatever I want" then we will not have eternal life.

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This is a personal blog. The views on this blog do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the Salvation Army, it's employees, or partners. The views on this blog are solely of those making them, based on the teachings of the Bible, in the Spirit.